Compounding gas-engine.



No. 724,239. QPATENTED MAR.31,1903.'

J. BABLBD.

COMPOUND GAS ENGINE.

I AP-PLIOATION FILED MAR. 7, 1901.

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- I PATENTED MAR. 31, 1903. J. BABLED.

COMPOUND GAS ENGINE. APPLICATION I'ILED MAR. '1, 1901.

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No. 724,239. 'PATENTEDMAR. 31, 1903.

J. BABLBD.

COMPOUND GAS ENGINE.

APPLICATION FILED MAB. 7, 1901. I no MODEL. 4 SHEETS-SHEET a.

No. 724,239. PATENT-ED MAR. 31, 1903.

J. BA'BLE/D. COMPOUND GAS ENGINE APPLICATION FILED MAR. 'I, 1901.N'OMODEL. I 4SHEETS-SHEE'1' 4.

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' INVENTOR' ATTORNEY tion of an engine embodying my invention.

NlTED STATES PATENT CFFICE.

AMES BABLED, OF DALLAS, TEXAS.

COMPOUND GAS-ENGINE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters" Patent no. 724,239, datedMareh'QL'lQO.

Serial No. 50,155. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JAMES BABLED', a citiien of the United States ofAmerica, and a resident of Dallas, Dallas county, State of Texas, haveinvented certain new and useful Improvements in Compound Gas-Engines, ofwhich the following is a specification.

My invention relates to gas or other explo sive engines in general, andmore specifically consists of an improved arrangement for compoundingsuch engines, so as to permit of a more extended expansion of the gasesand also dividing the'expansive force between the in and out stroke ofthe engine, whereby a continuous driving force is obtained. Thisarrangement also permits of the drawing in and compressing of eachcharge of gas while the preceding charge is expanding, and consequentlyinstead of having the power applied during one stroke out of four only,as is the casewith the ordinary gas-engine, or on every other stroke, asis the case with the ordinary double-cylinder engine, I obtain anapplication of power on every stroke of my improved form of engine.

Certain improvements in details of mechanism designed to operate with myinvention and various modifications involving the same general principleare also shown and described.

The preferred form of apparatus embodying my invention, with variousdiagrams illustrating its operation, are embodied in the accompanyingfour (4) sheets of drawings, in which- Figure 1 is a side elevation andpartial see- Fig. 2 is a diagram showing the operation thereof. Fig. 3is a diagram of a'slight modification, and Fig. 4 is a diagram showing athree-cylinder single-acting piston-engine arranged to operate inaccordance with the principle of my invention.

Throughout the drawings like referencefigures refer to like parts.

The engine shown in the drawings has] crank-shaft 1, with cranks 2 and 3and flywheel 4. This crank-shaft is journaled in the twin frame 5 and 6,which supports the cylinders 17 and 18. On these frames are the guides 7and 8, on which the cross-heads 9 and 10 slide, the cross-head 9 beingconnected to the crank 2 by the connecting-rod 11 and the cross head 10being connected to crank 3 by the connecting-rod l2. Piston 15 incylinder 17 is connected to the cross-head 9 by the piston-rod 13, andthe piston 16 in the cylinder 18 is connected to the cross-head 10 bythe piston-rod 14. The cylinder 18 I call the explosion-cylinder,because the explosion or combustion of gases takes place in its upper orouter end. Any suitable extension 19 of the said end of said cylinder isprovided for an explosion-chamber. The cylinder 17 I call thecompression-cylinder, because the charge of gas and air or vapor and airis drawn into its upper end through the inlet-valve 20 and thencompressed by the return stroke of the piston 15 and forced through thepipe 21 and check-valve 22 to the compression-tank 23. Pipe 24 extendsfrom this compression-tank 'to the upper end of the explosion-cylinder18, being controlled by the check-valve 25 and plug-valve 26. Thisplugvalve is a throttle-valve controlling the sup ply of combustiblemixture to the upper end projecting stems adapted to strike the lowerend of the cylinder on the downward stroke or the plate 28 on the upwardstroke.

A passage-way 29 (indicated in Fig. 1) connects the lower orcorresponding ends of the cylinders 17 and 18; and the exhaustpassageway 30 is connected to one or the other of said cylinders at thisend. As shown in Fig. 1, it is connected to the lower end of cylinder17. by any convenient form of valve, such as the plug-valve 31,operatedby the valve-rod 31, cam-rollers 32 32,.and cam 33 on the mainshaft' l.

The exhaust-passage 30 is controlled.

The explosive mixture in the explosion in the explosion-chamber 19. Saidwires con-,

stitute the secondaries of the induction-coil 37, supplied with currentfrom any convenient source of electricity, such as a battery 38, locatedin the primary circuit, which is opened and closed by the action of thespring contact-piece 39 and the projection 40 on the shaft 1.

While my engine may be supplied. with ordinary illuminating or producergas, I have illustrated an arrangement by which the necessarycombustible vapor may be generated by the apparatus itself. Thisconsists of the naphtha or gasolene tank 41, into which air is admittedthrough the pipe 42 and compelled to pass through the liquid hydrocarbonbefore it is sucked up through the pipe 43 into the compression-cylinder17. The air thus becomes ladened with hydrocarbon vapor in thewell-known way and forms a combustible mixture.

44 is a hand-"alve for closing the supplypipe.

In order to facilitate the vaporization of the liquid hydrocarbon, I maycause the hot exhaust-gases or a portion thereof to pass through thepipe 45, controlled by the valve 46 and constituting a branch of theexhaust. This pipe is immersed in the liquid hydrocarbon in the tank. 47is another branch to the exhaust-pipe, controlled by the valve 48 andleading to any convenient form of muffler, as 49.

In the modification shown in Fig. 3 the valves 27 in the piston 16 aredispensed with and their work of equalizing the pressure on the twosides of the piston 16 during the return stroke is done by the valve 27,which controls the passage-way 51, extending from one end of thecylinder to the other. This valve 27 is positively opened and closed byany convenient valve mechanism, such as the valve-rod 52, cam 53 on themain shaft, and spring 54. The other parts of the engine in diagram Fig.3 are the same as in Fig. l, but represented diagrammatically.

In the modifications shown in Fig. 4 the principle of my invention isembodied in an engine using only single-acting cylinders. The use ofsingle-acting cylinders is desirable in gas-engines in many cases tokeep the parts cool. In this arrangement also the compression-tank 23 isdone away with, the compressed gases being forced directly from thecompression-cylinder 17 into the explosion-cylinder 18. In thisconstruction instead of having the expanding gases during the returnstroke operate on the under sides of the pistons 15 and 16 said gasesare led into the larger cylinder1718 and caused to operate on the piston1516 therein. This latter piston is connected to a third crank 23, setopposite to the cranks 2 and 3. The expanding gases instead of beingconducted through the valves 27, Figs. 1 and 2, or through thepassage-way 51 and valve 27, Fig. 3, are conducted through thepassage-way 51 and valve 27 from the explosion-cylinder 18 to theexpansion-cylinder. The valve 27 is operated by the valve-rod 52 andspring 54 in conjunction with the cam 53, as before. I have shown allthe valves in this case, however, as puppet-valves instead of plug-valves, as in the other constructions. Said valves are so set as tobe driven against their seats by the explosion occurring in cylinder 18.

In the arrangement shown in Figs. 2, 3, and 4 the exhaust is operated bya singleacting cam and the spring 55 in cooperation therewith.

The method of operation of my invention is as follows: Referring to Fig.1 and dia-.

gram Fig. 2, the engine is supposed to be at the end of the explosionand intake strokethat is to say, the charge of gases expanded in theupper end of cylinder 18 has driven piston 16 down to the lowermostposition and has carried the piston 15 along with it, drawing in acombustible charge of vapor and air into the cylinder 17. On the returnstroke the charge in the cylinder 17 will be compressed and forced intothe com pression-tank 23. At the same time the valves 27 having beenlifted will be held in their open position by the friction of theirguides, and the partially-expanded gases in the cylinder 18 will passthrough those Valves and expand into the lower end of cylinder 17,producing equilibrium of pressure on two sides of piston 16 and aworking pressure on the entire area of the under side of piston 15. Thusthe expanding gases furnish the power to compress the charge in cylinder17, and also when the engine is properly constructed they furnish asurplus of power to be expended in driving the crank-shaft on the returnstroke. When the pistons have reached the upper limit of motion, thevalves 27 are closed by their stems striking against the plate 28, andthe throttle-valve 26 is momentarily opened by the cam 50, permittingthe compressed gases in the tank 23 to flow into the combustion orexplosion chamber formed by the extension 19 of the cylinder 18. Whenthe crank is far enough past the dead-center to begin to produce anappreciable downward movement of the piston, the throttlevalve 26 isclosed, and the projection 40 strikes the contact-piece 39, completingthe electric circuits, before described, and producing a powerful sparkbetween the terminals 35 and 36 of the secondary circuit in thecombustion or explosion chamber. This explosion of combustible gasesforces the piston down, and the operation above described is repeated.During this downstroke the exhaust-valve 31 is open and the expandedgases in the lower ends of the two cylinders 17 and 18 are forced out,the exhaust-valve, of course, closing on the upstroke. As beforedescribed, the combustible mixture may be obtained by drawing airthrough the liquid hydrocarbon in the tank 41, and the volatilization ofthis liquid hydrocarbon may be accelerated by throwing a greater or lessproportion of the hot exhaust gases through the pipe 45 by opening thevalve 46,

. slight distance beyond.

or the whole of said gases may be discharged The Various valve mo-,tions should be such as shown in diagram action or ignition occursduring a small angle represented by the period .of contact of theprojection 40 and the spring contact-plate 39. Expansion then occurs incylinder 18 during the entire remainder of the crank revolution. Theexhaust occurs, of course, from the lower ends of the cylinders duringthe one hundred and eighty degrees of crank revolution beginning withthe admission at the other end of the cylinder.

It may happen in some cases that the valves 27 in piston 16 would givetrouble on account of sticking or leaking as a result of expansion andcontraction, and for this reason I propose the modified arrangementshown in Fig. 3, in which the connection from the upper to the lower endof the cylinder 18 is afforded through the external relief -pipe orpassage-Way 51, controlled by a valve 27, operated by a cam or otherconvenient means so as to close the connection during the'explosion-stroke-and open it during the return stroke.

As before stated, the use of a double-acting piston in gas-engines maysometimes lead to a destructive heating of said piston and the cylindercontaining it, and for that reason single-acting cylinders open at oneend to the air may be preferred. In the apparatus shown in Fig. 4 such aseries of single-acting cylinders is arranged to work upon the principleof my invention. The compression-cylinder performs the office of theupper end of the cylinder 17 in Fig. 1. The explosion-cylinder 18 formsthe oflice'of the upper end of the cylinder 18 in Fig. 1. Thepartially-expanded gases, however, instead of being led around to theother sides of pistons 15 and 16 are led through the passage-way 51 tothe singleactingcylinder 1718, which has a cross-section equal to ormore than the sum of cross-sections of the cylinders 17 and 18. In thiscylinder the continued expansion of gases does the same work as it doeson the under sides of the pistons 15 and 16 in the arrangement shown inFig. 1; but the pressure being applied to the upper surface of piston1516 its motion has to be the opposite of the motion of pistons 15 and16, and so it is connected to a crank 23, set at one hundred and eightydegrees from the cranks 2 and 3. In this construction also thecompression-tank 23 is done away with, the simple check-valve 22sufficing to control the connections between cylinders 17 and 18. Thevalve 27 is set to close at or just before the point on the upstroke ofpistons 15 and 16 at which the increasing pressure of the gases beingcompressed in cylinder 17 equals the decreasing pressure of the gasesflowing from cylinder 18 into expansion- Then the sparking cylinder1718. The valve'27 having closed at that time, a further increase ofcompression in the cylinder 17 will lift the check-valve 22, and therebeing no clearance in the cylinder 17 the completion of the stroke ofpiston15 will force all of the charge through check-valve 22 intoexplosion-cylinder 18. On the beginning of the downstroke check-valve 22will close automatically, and ignition immediately following the gasescompressed in the explosion-chamber 19 will burn and force the piston 16through its outstroke. On the instroke of piston 16 the gases expandinginto cylinder 1718 exert a driving force. against piston 1516 severaltimes larger than their back pressure on piston 16, and the not resultis a driving force for the engine on that stroke also, so that this formof theengine is double-acting as well as that shown in Figs. 1, 2, and3. The operation of the exhaustvalve 31 is as before described, and theoperation of the valve 27 is similar to that of 27. (Shown and describedin reference to Fig. 3.)

The advantages of my invention comprise, as before stated, the expandingof the gases down to the lowest point, thereby taking all the workpossible out of them, the production of a double-acting gas-engine whichhas a positive driving action during both strokes or through an entirerevolution, and in the avoiding of high temperatures by carrying on theexpansion of gases through two cylinders, whereby the amount of heatabsorbed by any particular cylinder is reduced and the engine parts arenot raised to a temperature which becomes destructive. The sending of aregulated quantity of hot exhaust-gases through the hydrocarbon alsoenables me to produce exactly the right degree of vaporization of saidhydrocarbon.

It is evident, of course, that various changes could be made in thedetails of the apparatus illustrated along the lines suggested in thediagrammatic views and otherwise without departing from the spirit andscope of my invention, so long as the principle of compression in onechamber, explosion in a second chamber, and a continued expansion in athird chamber or connected set of chambers is preserved. Other valveoperating and igniting mechanisms might be substituted, of course, anddifferent apparatus or connections for supplying the combustible mixtureto the engine, but all these changes are matters of detail and not ofprinciple, andthe resultin g structures I should still consider with inthe scope ofmy invention.

Having, therefore, described my invention,

what I claim as new, and desire to protect by Letters Patent, is-- 1.The combination of the driving-cylinder, the combined driving andcompressing cylinder, the crank-shaft; and pistons in said cylindersconnected to said crank-shaft, an inlet-valve connected to thecompression end of the combined driving and compressing cylinder, aconnection from the same end of IIO said cylinder to the correspondingend of the driving-cylinder, a check-valve in said connection, and anignition apparatus connected with said driving-cylinder.

2. Thecombination ofthedriving-cylinder, the combined driving andcompressing cylinder, the crank-shaft, and pistons in said cylindersconnected to said crank-shaft, an inlet-valve connected to thecompression end of the combined driving and compressing cylinder, aconnection from the same end of said cylinder to the corresponding endof the driving-cylinder, a check-valve in said con nection, and anignition apparatus connected with said driving-cylinder, together with apassage-way connecting the other ends of the two cylinders, theexhaust-valve also cow nected to said ends of the cylinders, avalvecontrolled passageway between the two opposite ends of thedriving-cylinder, means for holding the valve which controls saidpassage-way closed during the explosion-stroke and open on the returnstroke, and mechanism which holds the exhaust-valve open on theexplosion-stroke and closed on the return stroke.

Signed by me at Dallas, county of Dallas, this 25th day of September,1899.

JAMES BABLED, Witnesses:

H. BURGHARD, A. E. EAGAN.

